Blogs
on April 21, 2026
I got to know it in little bits and pieces, because I met Steven first in New York. He came to New York, and we just talked for 15 or 20 minutes. He didn't tell me much about the film, it was just considered Steven Spielberg's next project. And then about a week later, he sent me the scene in the Ravenwood bar. I read that scene, and he wanted me to fly to Los Angeles and audition - they actually wanted to do full-on screen tests - with two men who were possible Indiana Joneses. One was Tim Matheson, who I had worked with in the first film I'd ever done called Animal House. And another was a New York actor named John Shea, who I knew a little bit just from New York - which at the time felt like a very small actor community. My first connection to it was really just that one scene. And in that one scene, working on that one scene over and over again, I fell in love with the character. It's such a wonderful introduction to the character in the film, And then when they asked me to do the film, they sent me for the first time the whole script, so I got to read the script after they had made an offer to
**That's fantastic. Going back to the start, what was your first impression of Raiders when you were talking to the producers about doing it? Because it's very Lucas and Spielberg as a story, Myjourneyalongtheway.Com but it's also unlike what they'd been doing previously. What was your first impression of the movie and of Marion as well
There's obviously the famous story of Harrison shooting the guy with the swords. Were there any of your scenes that you felt were really impacted by the speed of it; anything where it was done more spontaneous than perhaps you expec
Most people couldn’t imagine anybody playing Indiana Jones except for Harrison Ford . Ford has even said he never wants to be replaced as Indiana Jones and nobody else wants that either. That being said, Tom Selleck was super close to playing the famous archeologist. Actors such as Tim Matheson, Peter Coyote, John Shea auditioned for the role, but Selleck was offered the posit
Hollywood has an unfortunate history of portraying ethnic cultures and indigenous people as scary, primitive, and secondary to white men. Though much has changed in the last 40 years, the 1980s were rampant with these racial stereotypes and beliefs, with The Indiana Jones franchise also attributing to the is
Modern movies tend to lean heavier into comedic dialogue and would've thrown in a few jokes or visual gags. What elevates Indy's adventure is that it's played straight. His introduction in the Peruvian jungle uses no words, only a head tilt, a flash of his whip, and a slow walk into the light. Similarly, the movie's humor is found through circumstance, not gags, such as when the vine Indiana's clinging to begins to slip, or the snake suddenly appears in his lap on the pl
According to the Bible, the shattered tablets were not placed in the Ark of the Covenant. A second set of tablets were forged and placed within the Ark. The writers might have gotten confused by the events of Deuteronomy 10, where God supposedly instructed Moses to create a different Ark made out of wood to place the broken tabl
It's so cool that you got to know Marion doing the bar scene, because it's such an amazing introduction, and Marion is such a powerful character who really holds her own. And it was a level of characterization - if you compare it to Bond, which Indy was riffing on - that was head and shoulders above the others. How did you bring that energy and vibrance to the charac
Actually, due to different filming angles and such, he had to outrun the boulder ten times! Spielberg later admitted, "He won ten times and beat the odds. He was lucky, and I was an idiot for letting him t
I think that I just had a feel for her from the very beginning. I think I just love stepping into her shoes, so to speak. She's a very vibrant, bold, survivor - she's kind of an independent character and everything I aspire to be. So, it was quite a wonderful invitation to me to play a character like that. I've never punched anyone in the jaw in my entire life, and I probably will go to my grave without ever hitting anyone in the face. But I just love her boldness. I love that she, even in a situation like that, was able to speak fully the pain and disappointment and anger that she felt towards him is such a direct way. Not that I condone violence, but in the film it definitely had an impact; she's seeing him for the first time in 10 years, and her responses to just take a swing at
Having already become famous for his previous collaborations with Spielberg and Lucas, composer John Williams seemed like a no-brainer to helm the score for Indiana Jones in 1981. What makes his work on Raiders truly incredible is that, even when audiences expect his usual greatness, he delivers something even more spell-bind
Karen Allen brings so much humor, heart, and fun to the character. From her first scene where we find her in the midst of a drinking contest, she makes for an unforgettable character who is a welcome addition to this advent
Be the first person to like this.